Teddy Edwards was together with Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray, the top you… Read Full Bio ↴Teddy Edwards was together with Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray, the top young tenor of the late '40s. Teddy Edwards’s recordings for the Dial label not only were among one of the greatest tenor side in modern jazz, they were definitely among the first. Teddy Edwards chose to remain in Los Angeles instead of moving to NYC when it mattered. He has been grossly underrated through the years. He remained in prime form well into his 70s.

THEODORE MARCUS “TEDDY” EDWARDS was born on April 26, 1924 in Jackson, Mississippi to a musical family. His grandfather, Henry C. Reed, played the bass and his father, Bruce Edwards, trombone, violin and reed instruments. Under these circumstances it was quite obvious that Teddy started to play very young, at first alto saxophone and later clarinet.

Early on, he toured with Ernie Fields' Orchestra, moving to Los Angeles in 1945 to work with Roy Milton as an altoist. Edwards switched to tenor when he joined Howard McGhee's band and was featured in many jam sessions during the era, recording "The Duel" with Dexter Gordon in 1947. He was playing Bebop on the famous Central Avenue and in Hollywood in 1945 with Roy Porter before the arrival of Charlie Parker and Dizzie Gillespie in December of that same year. A natural-born leader, Edwards did work briefly with Max Roach & Clifford Brown (1954), Benny Carter (1955), and Benny Goodman (1964), and he recorded in the 1960s with Milt Jackson and Jimmy Smith. But it was his own records -- for Onyx (1947-1948), Pacific Jazz, Contemporary (1960-1962), Prestige, Xanadu, Muse, SteepleChase, Timeless, and Antilles -- that best displayed his playing and writing; "Sunset Eyes" is Edwards' best-known original. Teddy Edwards experienced a great comeback in the early 1990s, when thanks to multi-talented artist Tom Waits and his wife, Polygram Jazz France agreed to record Teddy Edwards on his own label. The result was four CDs: Mississippi Lad, Blue Saxophone, Teddy Edwards Live at La Villa and Tango in Harlem. Teddy Edwards also released Midnight Creeper on HighNote and numerous other records all the way up to 2002, a year before his passing.

Just Friends
Teddy Edwards Quartet Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Just friends, lovers no more
Just friends, but not like before
To think of what we've been and not to kiss again
Seems like pretending it isn't the ending
Two friends drifting apart
Two friends, but one broken heart
We loved, we laughed, we cried, and suddenly love died

Overall Meaning

The song "Just Friends" by Teddy Edwards describes two individuals who have fallen out of love and have now become just friends. The opening line "just friends, lovers no more" sets the tone for the entire song. The singer reflects on their past relationship and acknowledges that they will never be the same as they were before. It is as if their love had vanished into thin air, leaving behind only a faint memory of what they once had. The singer finds it difficult to accept that they cannot be together romantically anymore but knows deep down that it is the right thing to do. The line "to think of what we've been and not to kiss again" emphasizes the pain and difficulty that both parties feel in their transition from being lovers to just friends.

Throughout the song, the singer expresses a longing to hold onto the past but understands that it's time to move on. The last line "we loved, we laughed, we cried, and suddenly love died" sums up the entire story. The singer reminisces about the ups and downs of their relationship, but it's all come to an end. The end of the relationship has left a broken heart, but both parties have come to the realization that being just friends is the best way forward for them.

Line by Line Meaning

Just friends, lovers no more
We used to be lovers, but now we're just friends

Just friends, but not like before
Although we're just friends now, things can never be the same as they were before we fell in love.

To think of what we've been and not to kiss again
Remembering our past romance without being able to relive it feels like we're playing make-believe that it's not the end.

Seems like pretending it isn't the ending
Even though we're trying to remain friends, it's hard to ignore that our relationship has reached its end.

Two friends drifting apart
As time passes, we're slowly growing apart even though we began as close friends.

Two friends, but one broken heart
We're both still friends, but it hurts one of us more than the other that our love is gone.

We loved, we laughed, we cried, and suddenly love died
We experienced all of the emotions that come with love, but it ultimately ended abruptly despite our efforts to keep it alive.

Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing
Written by: JOHN KLENNER, SAM M. LEWIS

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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